Page 29 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

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Geneva: Capital of Internationalism

ADDRESS
BY MR. VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE
AT GENEVA AT THE LIONS CLUB’S DAY

Geneva, Monday, 8 March 1993

Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
T alleyrand, one of the most skillful of French diplomats, is reported

to have said at the Congress of Vienna in 1815:

"There are five continents: Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Geneva".

Geneva had already won: it was entering the history of diplomacy in the
very year that it was linking its fate to that of the Confederation. This
international Geneva, this Geneva of multilateral diplomacy, is deeply rooted
in a past that explains the present and augurs well for the future.

Very early in its history, Geneva, as a staging post and meeting place,
developed into a crossroads for trade, people and ideas. Because of its
privileged geographical position, this city-state, small both in area and in the
size of its population, has steadily extended its sphere of influence through the
centuries.
The history of Geneva dating back to Calvin testifies what Robert de Traz
has written, "the spirit of Geneva is a spirit of openness which enables it to spill
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